Quote:
Originally Posted by janmcn
With healthcare or without healthcare isn't going to change the number of people that get sick and need a doctor's care. People don't get sick or not get sick depending on whether they have insurance.
|
The reality being avoided is that the mandates contained in the new healthcare
financing law will quickly result in LESS healthcare for the population overall, because Medicaid already pays 40%
below cost, as millions more people are being enrolled in it:
"The fact is that the Affordable Care Act, which will add as many as 40 million people onto the Medicaid rolls over the next few years, will deal most private practices a fatal blow if they are forced to accept Medicaid patients
without increasing reimbursements to at least Medicare levels.
These stark choices are forced by fiscal reality. For most physicians, Medicare covers
costs, and
Medicaid pays about 40 percent below cost.
To survive, most physicians, particularly those in smaller practices of 10 or fewer doctors, will have to refuse or severely limit Medicaid patients.
This is hardly a secret to physicians in smaller private practices.....
Here is how the present numbers break down and the heart of the problem:
• Using pediatric care, which proportionately mirrors other specialties and age groups, the average Medicare reimbursement for basic physician’s services is about $76, which covers
costs. The average
private insurance reimbursement for the same services is over $92, or 21 percent higher, which provides profit. (So the physician gets some take-home pay --my comment --ilovetv) The average Medicaid payment is about $46.50, or
39 percent below Medicare and cost, and 50 percent below private insurance. That money has to be made up by private insurance.
• Two privately insured patients generate $32 over cost, enough to cover the $29.50 loss with some small change left over.
As the numbers dictate, things are already in a tenuous state, and we are still a year and a half away from the mandate and flood of up to 20 million new Medicaid patients hits in 2014.
Going from bad to worse, the CBO has estimated that up to 20 million more people with private insurance may lose it, their employers opting to pay the less costly tax instead, and have to turn to Medicaid....."
If ACA Survives, Many Small Medical Practices Will Fail - Physicians Practice